


The Moment I Met You, Is A Moment I Want To Forget

by Ashstars1998



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: M/M, malum all over the place
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-11
Updated: 2018-05-11
Packaged: 2019-05-05 10:23:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14616330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ashstars1998/pseuds/Ashstars1998
Summary: First impressions where very important to Calum T. Hood and a key thing in his life. At most conclusions of meeting new people he was almost, always complimented with a, “It was very nice meeting you.” or a “You're funny, we should really get a bite to eat later.” Those remarks were the norm for him.So when a total stranger tells him,“You're a dick, dude.” without Calum having uttered a single word to them, it was a slap to his face and a punch to his gut.au- it takes Calum approximately 8 positive interactions to fix a bad first impression.





	1. Prolouge

**Author's Note:**

> Alrighty, this fic was inspired by a psychology blog on tumblr and one of its posts was that it takes approximately 8 positive interactions to fix a bad first impression. So me procrastinating on my other fics decided to start another story and me being a malum stan instantly went to this being about Calum's first impression on a total stranger, at first, and him well trying to fix it. So, here you go and enjoy.

When meeting Calum, people always thought he was quiet, and nice. In the first few minutes of introduction those were what came to strangers minds. Maybe the large possibility that they thought he was a good looking person also crossed their minds. His humor was an aspect of him that people eventually found out about him after a few good hours spent talking to him. So in total there were three main words associated with Calum Hood: Quiet, nice, and funny.

Actually, four word's, add in handsome.

He was conditioned all his life to leave a good impression in the first few minutes of meeting someone. He had precise guidelines to follow since the age of four. One, greeting with manners and politeness towards new people he meets, it was strictly enforced by his parent's. Two, was having an inviting smile. At too young of an age his sister, Mali told him that he had a resting bitch face and it was better for him to always have a glimpse of a slight smile on his face. That way he wouldn't scare people off if they wanted to approach him. He does thank his sister because to be completely honest he has a severe case of bitch face. She did get reprimanded for cursing, but he owes her his thanks for his job. The work area expected you to be the very best version of yourself the moment you enter the room. That's why Calum always found himself having a smile plastered to his face the whole time he was being interviewed or in a meeting. Only being able to get rid of it by smacking his cheeks around a bit until they reddened, with good riddance to it.

So first impressions were key in his day to day life. He'd always be extra mindful of how he acted around strangers and new friend's. At most conclusions of meeting new people he was almost, always complimented with a “It was very nice meeting you.” or a “You're funny, we should really get a bite to eat later.” Those remarks were the norm for him.

So when a total stranger tells him, “You're a dick, dude.” without Calum having uttered a single word to him, it was a slap to his face and a punch to his gut.


	2. "You're a dick, dude."

Calum had woken up on the floor to his apartment once again.

Blearily opening his eyes he stared at the carpet, passively analyzing the stitch work and patterns it was decorated with that made him want to buy it in the first place. He slowly sat up ripping off a piece of paper that was stuck to his face, slowly rubbing the spot it had been stuck to because it had left behind a strange numbing sensation. Calum then moved his hand to rub over his puffy face, letting it fall to his lap sluggishly. The living room was a complete mess as he looked around, papers strewn all about the place. He tilted his head, pointing an accusing finger at the fallen stacks of papers in front of him. Those papers had been left in three neat and separate piles only a few hours ago. It wasn’t this messy last night from what he remembers. The stacks( well now messy piles) were a mix of all his lyrics and completed songs that he’d been mulling over for the past month; lyrics that could potentially turn into complete songs eventually and songs that would eventually get picked up.

Calum looked for his phone completely forgetting where he had left it last. In the mess that was yesterday he didn’t think having his phone near him was a good idea for his already convoluted thinking process. Searching around him and under his papers he found it on the couch behind him a few moments later, a place he could have slept on instead of the floor. Checking his phone he grimaced, not at the brightness, but at the percentage it was on. His phone was struggling to stay alive on 13% and he groaned at the thought of having to get up and charge it. Calum glanced at the time taking in that it was currently 7:47 am. Calum lethargically locked his phone, throwing it back on the couch and sat still for a few minutes, closing his puffy, sleep ridden eyes to get some energy to at least stand up. He was enjoying just sitting peacefully in the quiet of his floor until a surge of panic ran through him. Calum flopped back onto his couch, fumbling for his phone to unlock it to do a double take. The tiny black numbers staring right back at him had woken him right up. It was as if someone had surprisingly thrown you in the cold waters of a pool. The now fully awake Calum gripped his phone tightly until there were little indents on his hands and fingers from the strength he put in his grip at the horrible realization that dawned on him.

He had missed the bus for a meeting that was supposed to start at 8 o’clock sharp; it had been planned and arranged many months before. Everyone who was to attend had to align their schedules just so this meeting could take place. Months. Months! It took to get this meeting set. It took at least an hour to get to the record label if traffic was generous.

“Well, shit.’’ Calum had rasped out. Rapidly gathering his paperwork in a messy pile and almost tripping on the step that separated his kitchen from his living room he made his way towards his bedroom.

This meeting was going to determine if the record label he wanted to work for wanted to hire him as a permanent songwriter. He was currently a freelance writer, but Calum had sensed the time had finally come to belong to some big company name.

Well, his bills had decided it was an exceptional time to do so.

Entering his bedroom he flimsily threw his papers onto his bed and went to go search through his wardrobe for some decent meeting clothing. Something that wasn't the faded green suit he had bought a few years back for his first job interview. He doesn’t know why he chose green, honestly. Neither the business casual black Chinos he owned and the black button up he usually went for, felt right to wear this time. The clothes more than once got him skimming by as “meeting appropriate”.

Calum one-handedly buttoned up a white dress shirt he had found in the far reaches of his closet, while his other half was brushing his teeth was a nice discovery for the stressful morning. He grinned at his mirror, making foam drip out of his mouth, at the skill he apparently held at multitasking. Rinsing out the foam quickly he went back into his room.

Possibly having his name be recognized, just a smidgen, in the song credits was a little dream he had since his first lyrics made it to paper. It was a big day for him and he had already screwed up with missing the bus.

“I could just say that there was a lot of traffic that held me up...but we're in LA, that excuse probably sounds like a bad joke to them... for fucks sake!” Calum cursed, grudgingly accepting his fate. There was no loophole out of this than arriving late.

Calum, grabbing a black tie, decided there was no other way than making an attempt to catch the next bus to be less late than he would be if he didn’t hurry up. Picking out a folder from his backpack he went over to his bed and skimmed over all his papers to find the three main songs he had been working on to present to the executives. His only required job task to get accepted was to make a song and have it approved by his future bosses. Calum reached out towards his first song confidently, but then retracted his hand hesitantly. He did this to his other songs until he didn’t choose one at all. Puffing out a heavy breath he got all of his papers and stuffed them into his folder to find it later on the way there. There was no time to brood over it now he had a bus to catch. Grabbing all his belongings Calum rushed to the bus stop, hoping he'd make it for the next bus if he ran just a little faster.

Calum had the balls to start noticing on his way there that the streets weren’t as packed with cars as they usually were. The street lights hadn’t been turned off yet either and a street sweeper was passing by on the other side of the street. Calums steps started to gradually slow down as if he were walking through mud as he stopped at his regular bus stop. Pursing his lips and scratching his cheek he was confused.

Why could he hear the birds chirping? They usually were drowned out by the traffic.

Why couldn’t he see the sun perched over the roof of the Panda Express across the street already?

And just how was it possible that the bus stop was deserted of people? Usually it was packed by this time, 8 on the dot.  
Calum didn't know what to think, what did he do now? He figured the bus was just late so he decided to wait there for it. What else could he do, but to wait? Calum’s wandering eyes started looking at every little thing the stop had. Of course there was graffiti almost on every surface of the place. There were a lot of artists using the bus stop as transportation apparently. There were sharpie drawn mustaches and glasses on anybody's face that was vulnerable to the defaming of the marker. Calum gripped the bench under him to find something close to the consistency of Play-Doh under his fingertips. It was gum of course.

Calum's eyes roamed until his eyes landed on the bus schedule. Reading the whole thing top to bottom he came back up to the top of the paper to see a phone help line. The late man visibly brightened up at the sacred numbers reflected in his cocoa eyes. Thanking the gods no one had scratched out the numbers or broke the schedule Calum risked it and took out his nearly dead phone to call Sunbus services to see as to why the bus hadn't arrived. He knew it was probably annoying for the service helper to hear him complain as to why the bus wasn’t here yet. Most of the time Calum watched someone else complain to bus services while he just watched on. He was, but an innocent bystander most of the time.

Shrugging Calum guessed it was his time to fill in those vacant shoes. Who knows? The bus could have gotten in an accident and if he didn't have a bus to depend on then he'd have no choice, but to walk.

“This is SunBus Help Line, my name's Jake, how can I assist you today?” The operator answered in an emotionless voice. Almost sounding like an automatic voicemail.

“Hi, mornin’ to you, Jake. I just wanted to know why Bus Line 34 is late to the 8 o’clock pick up? I don't think the schedule has changed recently that I'm aware of.” Calum politely asked, not even taking a chance on giving a bad first impression over the phone.

“Sir, it’s currently 7 in the morning. The bus won’t be there for another hour.” Calum furrowed his eyebrows pulling his phone away to look at the time. “But my phone says it’s eight?” Calum questioned, he was more confused than before.

“Sir, you do know it’s daylight savings time, right? The clock was set back an hour today, so it’s currently 7 right now.” The helper stated point blank.  
Calum felt dumber than dumber. He couldn’t feel any other emotion than embarrassment, and a sliver of slight relief.

“Oh… well, thank you very much for your help, Jake. Have a good day.” Calum ended the call faster than the time Luke called the sex hotline on Calum’s phone to tease him.  
Calum at that moment regretted ever denying his phone accessibility of automatically changing the time on these types of days. It was a new phone he upgraded to and he already made a big mistake with it. He sighed defeated by technology, plopping down on the bench and going to his settings to change that mistake immediately. After all his questions were answered with the answer being daylight savings time he didn't know what else to do than to wait at the stop. It would be dumb to go back home to come back thirty minutes later. Looking down on the bench there was his folder containing his future. Remembering he had papers to look over and finally, having some time to sift through them, he looked and searched for the right song. He smiled that we wasn’t going to be late or late at all. Calum was quite ecstatic, especially happy because he avoided giving a bad impression to his future bosses.

As time passed the bus stop gradually began to fill up with people and it was soon a big crowd of noisy commuters. He was down to two songs when he heard the rumble of the bus sound down the street. Putting his papers back in his folder he got in line to get on.  
As always he fixed his hair and his shirt to greet the bus driver with a friendly smile, Martha. Making his way into the bus he saw that it was fully packed, he’d either have to fight for a seat or stand for an hour. Looking hopefully further into the back of the bus for an open seat his eyes caught another pair of eyes. They both skimmed over the other, but it didn’t linger more than that. Calum was still standing and heading to the back where he caught those same eyes again. At second glance the guy was wearing not the most friendly of faces. A look of boredom, but his eyes were the intimidating ones. This time the glance lingered until the guy actually smiled at Calum, and he was shocked. The guy now looked like the type of person that would let you cut him in the line at the market because you had one item. 

A smile really did change a person's face.

Calum finally understood what Mali wanted to do for him, with the whole,"Always have a smile on your face since you have resting bitch face." He really was grateful to his sister.  
The tall blonde guy got up from his seat and with a kind smile gestured to his seat. Calum was taken aback, a complete stranger had just offered up his seat to him and who was he to say no. Calum gladly rushed on over.  
Plopped himself down and, being ever so grateful, he was about to thank the guy, but when he looked over at his savior the guy had a shocked expression directed at Calum for a few split seconds until it morphed into a look of disgust and disbelief. The dirty blonde looked him straight in the eyes, clearly exhibiting hatred towards Calum.  
Calum was about to ask what the looks were for and gratefully thank the kind stranger until the complete unexpected happened.

“You’re a dick, dude.” The rugged blonde spat out, shaking his head disapprovingly at him, fully judging Calum.

Calum gasped, it felt like he had been punched in the gut, and slapped in the face at the same time. Never in his life has he had someone say that he was a quote on quote “dick” ever in his life. Not upon first meeting, not after meeting.

Never.

“Excuse me, I-” Calum put on a defensive voice, ready to defend himself. The guy didn’t even know Calum and he was brazenly going to call him a dick? Alas he was quickly cut off. 

“I'm sorry, mam' I'll help you find another seat. Someone seems to think that the wise deserve no respect.” The stranger, gave him a pointed look, and looked past Calum. 

Calum followed denim jackets eyesight only to land on a little old lady who was behind the giant, and if Calum really didn't feel like he was rightfully called a “dick” before then he sure welcomed it now.  
He not only stole the seat from an old lady, oh no, that wasn't the worst part. The worst part is is that he made his first bad impression in his life, and he could never fix it. What would his parents think? The guy was a complete stranger for heaven's sake. What was the possibility of ever seeing him again? They're in freakin’ LA!

“Thank you, honey, but I'm not so wise as you think I am,” she chuckled, “and your name?”, the old lady gingerly asked with the sweetest of smiles. Oh God, Calum screamed internally. He stole a seat from that smile.

“Michael.” The now named stranger smiled gently. He ushered the lady gently and carefully through the packed bus. Holding a sweet fond look at her as if she was his own grandma and led her to a seat someone had given up for her. 

Unlike Calum.

Calum watched on until the old lady disappeared, but the mess of blonde strands seemed to stand out like a flag to him. You could guess Calum was horrified at what a great thing like a misunderstanding of one smile from a stranger could lead to. The smile wasn't even directed at him. He slumped in his seat and ran a hand over his face, just embarrassed. He looked back up at the direction the pair went and the blonde haired Michael directed a heated glare at him, and a dismissive turn of the head.  
Today was just not going well for him. It was a day of just misunderstandings.

On his part.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading. Likes? Dislikes?  
> Talk malum with me :)
> 
> tumblr: malum-dreamer

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading and hope you're here for the journey.
> 
> Love you all!


End file.
